BEIRUT, Lebanon (A.W.)—Lebanon’s newly appointed Minister of Tourism Avedis Guidanian of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) stressed the importance of respecting the “uniqueness of the Armenian community” when dealing with the issue of a new electoral law that preserves the equity of representation.
According to a report by Lebanon’s National News Agency, Guidanian stressed on the importance of parliamentary elections, hoping that the Armenian deputies are elected by Armenian votes. He noted that Armenians have been marginalized over the past 25 years.
“It is important to respect the specific nature of the Armenian community, which is no less important than that of the Druze community, which the Progressive Socialist Party is talking about,” Minister of Tourism noted during an interview on Voice of Lebanon radio. During the interview, he also called on all politicians to issue an electoral law that ensured equity in representation to all Lebanese components.
“I warn against setting up new (electoral) divisions at the expense of Armenians,” he said, adding that the ARF would participate in the upcoming parliamentary elections whether the electoral law adopted was proportional or majoritarian.
Guidanian said that the ARF’s stance towards the electoral law was independent of any of its political alliances. “At a certain stage, it is important to apply the mixed electoral law before arriving to the full proportional law,” he said.
